Christian Art Worldwide - Laurel Gasque

Voices from the New Heartland: Christian Art in Asia, Africa, & Latin America

by Laurel Gasque

Despite widespread ethnic and po­litical struggles for cultural and so­cial identity, we live in a dynami­cally globalizing and increasingly interdependent world. Technology in communication and transporta­tion, economics, and a single eco­logical environment are but a few of the factors that reflect our world relatedness and dependence upon each other extending beyond our national, ethnic, and linguistic boundaries.

Christianity as a religion is both global and local. Its fabric is both universal and particular. It speaks many languages, not just one. All of these, as Professor Andrew F. Walls has observed, are but transla­tions of an original translation, which is the Incarnation. Divinity was spoken into Palestinian partic­ularity and retranslated into the specifics of cultural and human di­versity, including every individual­ity down to our own.1 Historically Christianity has united with its locale and spoken its argot. So much so that it has of­ten been considered a European or western religion, forgetting its ori­gins at the confluence of Asia and Africa. The past, however, is not truly necessary to remind us of that - if we open our eyes to what is currently occurring. If we look today at the dispersion of Chris­tianity in the world, we see that Christianity has migrated. Its heart­land is no longer Europe or the West, but it is moving into Africa and Asia. It is reinventing itself in Latin America and Eurasia (i.e., the former USSR).

In a sense Christianity does not conquer territory. And it may be a shock to many Christians to realize that although Christianity may en­ter and be received in a region, it can also depart as readily. We wit­ness this historically, for example, with Syria and Egypt and contem­porarily with Europe. By the end of this century and this millen­nium it is predicted that there will be more churches in Africa than in Europe. But what does all of this have to do with Christian art today? At this juncture, before going on to engage this question, I should make clear to the reader that I take Christian art to be art made ex­pressly from a tacit or explicit Christian perspective. This mayor may not be made by individuals who identify themselves as Chris­tians. Many works of art have been commissioned by Christians on the basis of artistic competence rather than religious affiliation. Perhaps the most famous example in recent times has been the Church of No­tre-Dame-de-Toute-Grace on the high plateau of Assy in France where the Dominican priests, Fa­thers Pie-Raymond Régamey and Marie-Alain Couturier, commis­sioned such artists as Bonnard, Léger, Matisse, Rouault, Lipchitz, Braque, and Chagall on the basis of their recognized achievement, not on the basis of personal belief, which for this group of artists was extremely varied. On the other hand, not all art made by Christians is necessarily Christian in intent and purpose, al· though it is asserted by some that just because a work is made by a Christian it is somehow Christian. Most Christian artists do see a rela­tionship between their work and their beliefs. Whether they implicitly or explicitly achieve an integral relation between the two is an other matter.

But let us return to the question about what all this talk about Christianity being global and local has to do with Christian art. The simple answer is that it has a lot to do with it. It means, first of all, that Chris­tian art made today is extremely varied in function, style, content, and quality. It is also universally produced. It is not just the domain of a small group or groups, pre­dominantly in the West, who take their task of creating art as Chris­tians seriously and earnestly. Rather, it is burgeoning virtually worldwide. While Christian art in the West may appear to be still under siege, or even extinct, it is beginning to abound in Christian communities outside the West, where it speaks many distinct languages. Even a secular voice such as Time maga­zine recognized this when it de­voted a 1989 Easter Week article to the multiplicity of Christian art arising in Africa.2 This is occurring in Asia as well, where the serious­ness of intent in this area led al­most two decades ago to the found­ing of the Asia Christian Art Association in order to encourage, interpret, and document such art. Already a critical study of the his­tory of Christian art in Korea has been written.3

But how do we understand the scope of what is occurring today and fit it into a holistic understand­ing of these artistic activities, not only cross-culturally, but also his­torically? It often appears that a wide gap of awareness of each other exists between the Christian art and artists of western Europe and the anglophone world and those of Africa, Asia, Eastern Eu­rope, and Latin America. Also, there seems to be a dichotomy be­tween what some consider sophis­ticated and "true" art and what some may call "mission" art.

In this brief introduction to Christian art in various parts of the world today-often ignored by the West-I hope that some of the bar­riers mentioned above are broken down. First of all, the barrier of separation from an appreciation of the past of Christian art needs to be removed. If we return to Professor Wall's metaphor of translation, we shall see that all Christian art from its inception to the present, from the church at Dura Europos in Syria or the catacombs of Rome to the church of Notre-Dame-de-­Toute-Grace at Assy or the work of individual contemporary Christian artists, is a translation of Christian understanding into culture. Ad­mittedly as with language some translations are better than others. Nevertheless, such a metaphor ena­bles us to look at the whole course of Christian art in both its unity and diversity.

Second, I hope that the modest attempt here to introduce and ad­dress Christian art from an interna­tional perspective will serve to bring those who are involved in making and supporting such art closer together and more aware of each other. Further, I trust it will encourage them to share their work with each other as well as help them realize that there is still an enormous amount of work to be discovered, which has not as yet been recognized or recorded. What I have to offer here is not even the tip of the iceberg. I suspect it is the only the tip of the tip of the ice­berg. Third, I would like to see the art of more recent Christian communities not separated and considered in a different category from the art coming from older Christian communities. It is fre­quently forgotten by the older communities that newer Christian ones often have venerable artistic traditions and sophisticated aes­thetic norms. Conversely, it occurs often that Christian art coming from older communities reflects a loss of memory or rejection of its rich artistic heritage with its attendant meanings.

Art in action is a good way of un­derstanding the great variety of in­ternational Christian art without separating it into "high" or "low" or sophisticated or naive.4 Art made strictly for aesthetic contem­plation, with complete disinterest­edness for action, or art for art's sake alone, has a very small place in Christian tradition. For example, although the holy icons of Eastern Orthodoxy arouse contemplation, it is with the intent of moving the viewer beyond what he or she sees to spiritual and moral action. Fur­thermore, its intense call for re­sponse is allowed immediate psy­chological release by being able to be touched and even kissed.5

Knowing the intent of the artist and the function (i.e., action) of a particular work of art aids us con­siderably in accounting for its form and content, even at times its qual­ity. Cross-cultural communicator and ethno-musicologist Nathan Corbitt observes from long-term contact with African art that not all of it fits into a single category. He makes at least four helpful distinc­tions. And, although these come out of an African context they could well be provisional for a con­sideration of the whole range of in­ternational Christian art, East and West, North and South.

Based on function, Corbitt sees, first of all, liturgical or ecclesiastical art. This is not just the art in Roman Catholic, Orthodox, or Anglican churches, but pertains to Pentecos­tal traditions as well as to the more austere Reformed and Evangelical churches. It may be elaborate or it may be simple, but it exists as inte­gral to worship and community ex­pression. It mayor may not be made by professional artists. Second, Corbitt distinguishes what he calls functional art. This type of art is related to everyday life and is dynamic and changing. This art is not done by professional artists, but is done informally, for immediate purposes of ritual, re­minder, and protection, not merely as decoration. It may also be ephemeral. For example, in Zim­babwe one may find a painting of The Good Shepherd on the wall of a home, a shop, or even on the back of a bus. Third, there is the art produced by professional artists, or profes­sional art. The range of this work can vary extremely. It can be made to be exhibited formally in an art gallery, or sold directly commer­cially to a buyer, perhaps even aimed at a tourist market, or used in advertising. Fourth, Corbitt sees something he calls mission art. This art is not necessarily made indigenously, but is used in some way to communicate the Christian message. (All of the above comes from personal communication with my colleague Nathan Corbitt at Eastern College, St. Davids, P A, USA.) A fine exam­ple of this is the extensive work done in a Masai style by Sister Karin Kraus of the German Bene­dictine Mission in Tanzania for cat­echetical instruction. I hope the reader will hold these distinctions in mind as individual artists and their works are men­tioned in the following brief dis­cussion of Christian art in Africa, Latin America, and Asia.

Africa

Cameroon artist and writer on art, Father Engelbert Mveng, S.J., a key figure in African Christian art circles, proclaimed in 1989 "the verge of a golden age in African Christian Art."7 Today throughout sub-Saharan Africa Christian art is flourishing. Styles vary from rep­resentational to nearly abstract, but content focuses strongly around Biblical themes. Individual artists are identifiable, but there is also work done collectively and anonymously.

Elimo Njau, a widely known Lu­theran artist from Tanzania, whose work ranges from fresco painting to graphic design, says art makes Christianity African. He also sees it in the time-honored way of being an effective way of teaching the Bible through imagery.8 Some Afri­can Christians, such as the indige­nous Kimbanguist Church of Zaire with a membership of at least five million, strictly avoid imagery. The robes of indigenous bishops and preachers, however, are often em­broidered, especially with Biblical texts.9

Africa has a venerable indige­nous history of Christian art that should not be forgotten, beginning with the Coptic art of Egypt and continuing with the art of Ethio­pia.10 Art in action motivated by re­ligious activity has always thrived in Africa and sometimes has come into conflict with missions. Mis­sions have also tremendously encouraged art in Africa, however, es­pecially during and after World War II.

Edward Paterson, artist and An­glican priest, called in 1938 to start the Cyrene Mission School near Bu­lawayo, in what today is Zim­babwe, planned his enterprise artis­tically from the ground up. Immediately he cut a great cross into the bush, placing dormitories at the ends of the cross and class­rooms in the angles of the cross. In addition, the school placed empha­sis on teaching methods of agricul­ture and art that reflected local cul­ture and materials. Later, in the 19505 Paterson moved to Harare and worked there strategically in the formation of the National Gal­lery, which still acts to this day as a splendid showcase for Zimbab­wean art. Thus his legacy lives.11 African art has also been fueled by Roman Catholic missionaries like Father Hans Groeber of Swit­zerland at the Serima Mission near Great Zimbabwe (1948), Brother Marc-Stanislas Wallenda of Bel­gium who founded the Academy of Fine Arts in Kinshasa (1943), and Father Kevin Carroll of Ireland who worked among the craftsmen of Nigeria (1940).12

African Christian art to­day is a living demonstra­tion that art is not a luxury but a necessity of life. De­spite shortages of tools and materials, little elaborate for­mal training, and a lack of lucrative markets and estab­lished patronage, artists pro­duce an extraordinary amount of creative work in a wide range of media. A notable work artistically and theologically is Father Mveng' s crucifixion fresco in the Chapel of Liberman Col­lege at Douala, Cameroon. Hans-Reudi Weber, in his book On a Friday: Meditations Under the Cross, describes it in the following way:

Only three colours are used, which in West Africa denote suffering (black), death (white), and life (red). The cru­cified Lord, mainly painted in red, is shown on the black cross and has taken up into himself the white of death. In the semi­circular apse his out­stretched arms are not only raised but stretched forward, embracing the whole world, as if giving his benediction from the cross .... at his feet the whole cosmos is gathered up, while under his arms people come together in one great family.13

Artists frequently work in wood due to cost and accessibility. Some mature sculptors in this medium are Cornelio Manguma (Zim­babwe), Joseph Agbana (Nigeria), and Samuel Wanjau (Kenya). But painters and artists in other media abound, too. Mwabila Pemba (Zaïre) specializes in beaten copper works, and Kafusha Laban (Zaïre) uses colored resin on glass as an ec­onomical alternative to stained glass.14

Further, African artists are gath­ering to share their work. In April 1983 an African Festival of Chris­tian Art linked to the All African Conference of Churches took place in Nairobi.15 More recently, consul­tations of artists took place in Feb­ruary 1990 in both Ghana and Ni­geria through the coordinated effort of the Tradition Media Unit of the International Christian Me­dia Commission.16 Both of those gatherings, however, were not fo­cused solely on the visual arts, al­though they included them. It is also difficult to determine at this stage the kind of momentum these events have for ongoing endeavors. African artists and theologians intensely debate the issues of con­textualization and dangers of syn­cretism. Art may make Christianity African, but can Africanization come to a point where it obscures the Christian message? Although these problems may appear to be more dramatic in Africa, they are not unique to that part of the globe. Artists and theologians of older Christian communities, particularly in the West, perhaps have gradu­ally become desensitized to the is­sue of syncretism. In the West, it perhaps can be called Post­modernism! By contrast, Africans are still joyously free to express their faith visually in a way that can be taken seriously by a broad public. That is a great achievement.

Latin America

No consideration of the Christian art of Latin America can be made without facing the impact of both colonialism and liberation theol­ogy. The brutal way that conquest and Christianization moved to­gether into the southern Americas has left its indelible mark on the whole region. The Spanish, con­quistador and missionary, trans­mitted their unique vision of Christ. This was a crusading vision heavily conditioned by the final fall of Islam in the Iberian peninsula. The recapture of Granada occurred in 1492, the year Christopher Co­lumbus set sail.

The Christianity of Spain also en­visioned a Christ of extremes: a ten­der infant held in his mother's lov­ing arms or a dead corpse lying on his mother's lap. He is either a child or a suffering victim. Theo­logically the mother counts for as much as the son.17 Processions and festivals where images of the Virgin and the suffer­ing Christ are carried confirm this view of Christ and also probably represent a great deal of the func­tional and liturgical Christian art being produced in Latin America today.18 These images seem to merge so completely with the events they are a part of that they go unrecorded as individually made works of art.

Counter-balancing this view of a Christ of the extremes is liberation theology, which focuses on the ac­tive life and ministry of Jesus Christ between his birth and death as well as on his resurrection. Lib­eration theologians see a parallel between the needs of Jesus' day and the contemporary needs of Latin America. It is an action-oriented theology patterned after Jesus' example of caring for the poor, the sick, and the outcast. The relation of liberation theol­ogy to Christian art today is less clear than to the older theology of Latin America. Argentinian theolo­gian Enrique Dussel gives a rather complex and historical view of the Christian art of the oppressed in Latin America that this article can­not elaborate.19 One can say, however, that this theology tends to look at art as a luxury rather than a necessity of life. Food, shelter, and employment have far greater urgency on its agenda than art. The door is by no means shut on art though. Interest­ingly, and not unexpectedly, the work of strongly anti-Catholic art­ists like the Mexican muralists, Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco, David Siqueiros, and Ru­fino Tamayo are admired by these theologians.20

Perhaps the best-known Chris­tian art related to liberation move­ments in Latin America is a series of paintings by peasant men and women of the now disbanded com­munity of Solentiname in Nicara­gua. The priest who came to this community in 1966 was Ernesto Cardenal, later minister of culture under the Sandinistas. Cardenal's first ministry to the campesinos of Solentiname was to listen to them instead of preach at them. Thus, in­stead of a homily based on the Gos­pel text at the mass each Sunday, there was a dialogue about it. As a result the church grew. Cardenal also decided to record the commen­tary of the campesinos on the Gos­pel, which reflected a wisdom often absent from the comments of theo­logians.21 A visual commentary on the Gos­pel also resulted from this practice. A book called The Gospel in Art by the Peasants of Solentiname (1984) by Philip and Sally Scharper brings to­gether many of these paintings along with transcriptions of the campesinos' commentaries appropri­ate to the particular Gospel pas­sages represented. These paintings translate the New Testament into peasant life in such a way as to become not merely local, but also universal. In The Annundation by Miriam Gue­vara, the Angel Gabriel finds Mary at her sewing machine. Jesus is born in a simple thatched hut in a painting by Carlos Garcia. In the Slaughter of the Innocents by Julia Chavarria, soldiers of Herod are recognized as Somoza's troops out­fitted with weapons and uniforms supplied by the United States. Ro­dolfo Arellano in the Parable of the Sower transcends mere illustration. Planting, rocky ground, weeds, and birds snatching seed away are not just elements of a story, but are re­alities for him, giving the viewer a fresh vision of the parable.

Other powerfully contextualizing works of art, unrelated to those at Solentiname, but coming from a lib­eration perspective, are those of Pe­ruvian artist, Edilberto Merida, and Brazilian artist, Guido Rocha. Both have created crucified sculptures of Christ that burn their way into the viewer's retina. The Christ in Mer­ida's sculpture resembles an an­guished figure of an executed guer­rilla warrior. In Rocha's sculpture a violently screaming and emaciated Christ lurching forward from his cross comes out of the experience of torture of others and of the artist himself.22

Today the art of Latin America, conditioned by historical secularity arising from roots in the early 19th-century political revolutions, is gaining popularity in important markets in Europe and North America. Amid this art, however, there seems to be little that can be called explicitly Christian art. It also appears that Latin Ameri­can artists with an interest in Chris­tian art have not as yet formed many groups or actively sought to network with each other.

Asia

As we tum to Asia, we find the crossroads of world religions. Here Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam, along with numerous smaller relig­ions, have their origin and home. We must remember that Christian­ity also arose here. Jesus Christ walked the dusty roads of western Asia. Although the number of Chris­tians is few-less than 10 percent of the Asian population - its history is ancient.23 In India, for example, the Malabar Christians (the Ortho­dox Syrian Church of the East) trace their history back to the apos­tle Thomas. Thus, when the Portu­guese arrived in South India in the 15th and 16th centuries, they found Christians there already, but not Roman Catholic ones.24 As for Christianity in Asia today, one of the most distinguished out­ward signs of its vitality is the re­markable quality of Christian art that is being created there. A grow­ing number of artists (beginning also to include some women) is producing richly contextualized Christian art in the Philippines, In­donesia, Japan, India, China, and Korea. To a lesser extent this is also happening in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Sri Lanka. The late John Butler, world authority on the indigeniza­tion of Christian art, said, ". . . Christianity and its art, already haw their places in the life of these nations [i.e., Asian countries], con­siderably greater than the statistics of the community might sug­gest.,”25 As in Africa, ardent dis­cussion surrounds the entire issue of contextualization of Christian art in Asia. From both an aesthetic and theological perspective, Butler gives a valuable detailed analysis of this concern as it relates in par­ticular to individual contemporary artists in India.26

Jyoti Sahi, well-known ecumeni­cally minded Roman Catholic In­dian artist and writer, observes that increasingly more Asian art­ists are painting Biblical themes, al­though not all of these artists iden­tify themselves as Christians. He strongly suggests that they should not be identified as crypto­Christians either, but should be looked upon just for what they are: Buddhist, Hindu, or Muslim artists who for one reason or another au­thenticalr desire to paint these themes.27

Jamini Roy (1887-1972) and K.C.S. Paniker (b. 1911), for example, are two highly respected Hindu artists widely known for the Chris­tian subject matter they use. When Roy was in his mid-thirties he abandoned a European way of working and embraced a powerful Bengali folk art style that he ap­plied to Christian themes like the Crucifixion and the Last Supper. Far from being naive, this style is quite bold and congruent with its subject matter.

No inquiry into the work of Asian artists can overlook the im­portant contribution that Dr. Ma­sao Takenaka of Doshisha Univer­sity, Kyoto, Japan, has made to our knowledge of them. Although a professor of Christian ethics, Take­naka has given a significant por­tion of 30 years to travelling throughout Asia to investigate, document, and reproduce the Christian art of Asia. Especially through two books, Christian Art in Asia (1975) and The Bible Through Asian Eyes (1991), the latter co­-authored with Ron O'Grady, Take­naka has made their work accessi­ble and known to a worldwide audience. He is convinced”… more than ever before that artists are pi­oneers of the renewal of the church in Asia, since they exhibit in a con­crete way a visible sign of the Christian presence in Asia today.”28

In contrast to the Latin Ameri­can artists, artists in Asia have formed many associations and held many gatherings. The most notable network is the Asian Christian Art Association. It formed from an Asia-wide conference of artists that met in Bali, In­donesia, in 1978 out of enthusiasm generated by the publication of Takenaka's book, Christian Art in Asia, three years before. Today ACAA offers valuable news about contemporary Christian art in Asia through Image: Christ and Art in Asia, its newsletter published three or four times a year and circulated free of charge to its worldwide membership.29 ACCA continues to sponsor Asia-wide conferences for artists as well as major exhibitions of Asian Christian art. Some of these exhibits have taken place in Adelaide, Singapore, Bangalore, and New York.

Many individual countries have organized groups and exhibitions. In 1963 the Association of Korean Christian Artists was formed. An annual exhibition of Christian art sponsored by the Waseda Univer­sity Student Center has been held in Japan since 1966. There is also an Indian Christian Artists' Associa­tion. In Nanjing, the China Chris­tian Council through the Amity Foundation supports Christian art­ists by making their work known and helping to sell it around the world, while the Nanjing Theologi­cal Faculty itself has a special art department. The Christian Arts As­sociation Nepal was founded in 1991. This group includes the vis­ual arts, but is not exclusively fo­cused on them.

The work of New Zealander, Kathleen D. Nicholls, formerly a missionary to India, must also be mentioned. Although personally more involved in the performing arts, she has contributed substan­tially to the encouragement of the visual arts as well. Her book, Asian Arts and Christian Hope (1983), at­tempts to build bridges between the arts and culture in order to en­courage the communication of the Christian message in an appropri­ately contextualized way. As coor­dinator of the Traditional Media Unit of the International Christian Media Commission, she has led the way for two international consulta­tions on the arts in Bali, Indonesia (1989; 1994), as well as numerous conferences on the arts in Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Many Asian countries merit aes­thetically and culturally sensitive full investigations of their Christian art along with detailed studies of their individual artists. That, of course, is beyond the scope of this survey. One can only speculate what could be in store for such studies with this glimpse of the diversity of contemporary Christian art in a country like Indonesia. Remarka­ble, indeed, is the case of S. Sudjo­jono 1917-1986), considered the fa­ther of modern Indonesian painting. Sudjojono was an active leader in his country's indepen­dence and later a member of parlia­ment, fully at the center of political and social events in his country. Not blind to corruption from all po­litical corners including his own, he returned time and time again to us­ing Biblical themes to express a passionate concern for peace and justice.30

Other Indonesian artists are of­ten skilled in the traditional man­ner of more than one art, reflecting a holistic attitude toward art that is not usually seen in the West. Ba­gong Kussudiardja (b. 1928), painter and brilliant creator of ba­tik (see Crucifix), has a deep under­standing of dance as well. "Art," he says, "is part of my life. I feel that one needs art just as one needs food, clothing, and shelter."31

Balinese painter and avid pro­moter of Christian faith through the arts, Nyoman Darsane (b. 1939), is also an accomplished musician, dancer, and wayang kulit (shadow puppetry) performer.32 This artist's life essentially reflects his cultural roots in the sense that in Balinese culture virtually no separation ex­ists between art activities and life. The integration of art and life is also reflected in the unusual his­tory of the Protestant Christian Church in Bali, where art and ar­chitecture have unfolded integrally with life and economic develop­ment.33

In a survey such as this one, many good artists cannot be dis­cussed. No account, however, of Christian art in Asia would be com­plete without mentioning Japanese artist Sadao Watanabe (b. 1913), probably the best-known artist us­ing Biblical themes in Asia today. Many of his works, especially his numerous paper stencil print ver­sions of the Last Supper and Noah can be found in important collec­tions throughout the world. At 81 Watanabe is still alert and working. He has devoted his entire life to recovering, preserving, and developing a special technique of print- making using handmade paper that is based on traditional Okinawan craft. His profession as a youth was as a dyemaker. This probably accounts for the rich and natural feeling of his color sensibil­ity. The combination of a highly stylized stencil technique and a unique matte quality of color pro­duce a strong impression of dignity and beauty in his work, perfectly contextualized but also universally accessible. The center of Watanabe's soul has been to express the Bible through art. Quite intentionally he has limited the themes he has used. His aim has been primarily to fa­miliarize his Japan audience with certain Christian themes, but not to overwhelm or confuse those who have never read the Bible. Al­though Watanabe uses the same themes over and over again, every work is unique. The theme is set, but not the interactive treatment it gets, based on the strong imagina­tive identification he makes afresh with the elements and aspects of the subject.34

In a diversity of aesthetic, relig­ious, political, and social situations, amid a great deal of poverty, and in some places a measure of afflu­ence, Asian Christian art is flour­ishing and able unabashedly to ex­press Christian belief with an astonishing range of cultural rich­ness. In closing I am reminded of a re­mark by Jacques Maritain that I read some years ago. "Art is the John the Baptist of the heart, pre­paring its affections for Christ." In looking at the mission of Christian art in the world today from this perspective, we can only hope that both its quality and quantity con­tinue to increase. Ars longa, vita bre­vis.